It’s that time of year again! Well, actually, no, it isn’t. That time of year is still five months away at the time of writing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t start getting hype for it.

COLIN is back! For the fourteenth year in a row, the co-event calendar (and for the third year in a row, FOCAL) will kick off with what was, briefly, the biggest co-event of all time, but remains the oldest and (hopefully) the one everyone wants to win.

Very little is changed from last year. It’ll be the traditional COLIN format of 3 rounds of Edinburgh-style 9 rounders followed by a final, kicking off at 11:50 and ending just before 6pm. The venue will be the Ark on Moor Lane in North Hykeham, as it was last year. And the following day, as with last year, we’ll be at the Memorial Hall on Newark Road in North Hykeham for the fifth Hangover event. This, as always, will be 2 rounds of Edinburgh-style 9 rounders followed by a final, kicking off at 11am (or, if history is any judge, some time afterward when everybody (especially Jen) eventually shows up) and ending at around 2:30pm (or earlier if everyone passes out. Again). The price for this weekend full of Countdowny goodness is a mere £13 for the Saturday, £8 for the Sunday or £18 for both days, payable by Paypal to hulla.mahulla@btopenworld.com or by cheque to my home address (available upon request).

However! Further discounts are available through the new 'refer a newbie' scheme! Anyone who gets someone to sign up who has never played at a co-event before will get a full £3 off their entry fee (so £10 for Saturday, £5 for Sunday or £15 for both (I'm not THAT generous)) if the newbie mentions their name when sending me their money. And yes, the newbie gets £3 off their entry fee as well! The bad news: you can only refer one newbie per person. The good news: the discount still applies if you've already entered the event.

I’m already trawling various hardware stores/Amazon for this- well, next- year’s trophies and prizes, which will hopefully be the most unique yet! There will also be spot prizes on offer throughout the day and maybe even a few prizes for the more creatively-minded among you!

More details will inevitably come over the coming few months, so watch this space! Especially watch this space if you’re interested in people arguing about Travelodge prices.

Disillusioned with the price of the weekend at the Thorpe-on-the-Hill Travelbodge stubbornly refusing to drop below £100 for several months? Wish there was a way of spending only a small fortune on the hotel this year rather than a large one?

Well, this weekend they're doing a discount, and it expires tomorrow. The discount code AUTUMNSTAYS gives "up to 30%" off stays before the end of January. As you might have guessed, "up to" means "for lots of hotels that aren't the one you want". The discount for the hotel that matters is 20%.

Still, if you were waiting for a brief window where the price for the weekend drops significantly, there it is.

It's noticeable that a room for COLIN weekend is more expensive than a room for either the weekends before, or the weekends after. I think Travelodge may have realised that their Thorpe-on-the-Hill establishment is in demand for the last weekend every January.

Current prices (before application of the AUTUMNSTAYS discount) for two nights as follows:

Entry figures currently stand at 17 for Saturday and 16 for Sunday, which may seem a little low, but last year, the main event only got its 24th entry on December 22nd. So now's as good a time as any for an appeal/challenge. If the main event hits 30 entries by the 22nd of December this year, everyone coming (to either the main event of the hangover) gets a special freebie. May or may not be another mug.

Up to 22 entries now and a COLIN debutant (the first one so far for 2018) in the form of Bradley Horrocks! Just 8 entries until I'm forced to think of a special freebie to buy/make everyone, and 8 days in which to get them...

Another day, another entry and another COLIN debutant in the form of David Hilton! Up to 23 now for Saturday, just 7 to go in 6 days to make me stick my hand in my pockets, this time for reasons that aren't likely to get me arrested.

On a related note, neither COLIN XII nor COLIN XIII saw any player make their overall co-event debut at COLIN, and the previous year saw only one overall debutant in the shape of George Ford. I am therefore going to strain my finances even more by announcing the 'refer a newbie' scheme. Anyone who gets someone to sign up who has never played at a co-event before will get a full £3 off their entry fee (so £10 for Saturday, £5 for Sunday or £15 for both (I'm not THAT generous)) if the newbie mentions their name when sending me their money. And yes, the newbie gets £3 off their entry fee as well! The bad news: you can only refer one newbie per person. The good news: the discount still applies if you've already entered the event.

Well, entries stayed at 23, so no special freebie for everyone- but I might put my hand in my pocket and see if I can't rustle something up anyway. Meantime, hope everyone has a good Christmas, and come Boxing Day, you have plenty of spare cash to send my way to secure your place at next month's event!

26 paid up entries and just 26 days to go! It's time for me to make my usual appeals (and, apparently, pentapost at the same time)

-If you can bring copies of the board game, please let me know. Physical copies of the dictionary aren't needed and haven't been for some time, we'll be using aptodic/ODO so if you can bring a mobile or any other handheld device that can access either of these places, brilliant.

-If you want to make a contribution to the puzzle mag, whether it's a puzzle, a fun creative activity, a drawing, a review of the Fox & Hounds's food or an anecdote, now is the time to tell me. I'll be getting the magazine hopefully finalised within a week, a week and a half tops.

Not paid up yet but will definitely be doing so. Would anyone be wanting a lift - if they can meet me at Stoke on Trent train station or somewhere along the way? Always nice to have a travel companion.

I'm probably going to do the Linkin parkrun before COLIN. Rumours suggest Giles and Zubair may also be doing it. Anyone else?

If I'm not ill I may be tempted.

Awesome. Have you registered and got a barcode?

Yes. My printer was fucked prior to my first ever parkrun t'other week so officially this would be my first parkrun (if I do it, still too ill at the moment). I should probably laminate the barcodes now though.

Two days to go and I've just realised I've been negligent in one regard- I haven't posted the seedings yet! Rather than do my usual thing of ridiculous numbers of calculations based on on-screen performance, etc. I've decided instead to do it a very simple way. And rather than explain this simple way, I'm just going to throw the seedings up and let everyone argue about it. See you on Saturday!

Two days to go and I've just realised I've been negligent in one regard- I haven't posted the seedings yet! Rather than do my usual thing of ridiculous numbers of calculations based on on-screen performance, etc. I've decided instead to do it a very simple way. And rather than explain this simple way, I'm just going to throw the seedings up and let everyone argue about it. See you on Saturday!